Days of Darkness: Restore
by Hawkeye Reticle
Summary: The human heart is a fragile thing; easily hurt and broken. In the Great Seal, Minato is temporarily set free by Nyx and it's up to him to sate her curiosity and show her just what friendship means. Certainly not an easy task, troubles are afoot in his home world and an already difficult task became even harder.
1. Nyx of the Night

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

That's what people say when their lovers are separated from them for long periods of time. It didn't necessarily have to refer to lovers in particular, however.

Minato deeply missed his friends. He missed having Koromaru sidle up to his leg with a reassuring whine. He missed when Junpei gave him a wide grin while cracking those perverted jokes of his. He missed when Yukari squeezed her hand around his shoulder and told him he was going to be alright leading them into Tartarus. He missed when Fuuka breathed a sigh of relief as they came back down from the labyrinth.

There were a lot of things he missed. It wasn't that the ones he thought of were any less important experiences. It was simply that he enjoyed the good times, and the bad in a blur. Good times were when everyone was smiling upon a victory. Bad times were when he first met them, and he had failed several times as field leader by leading them into danger and being reckless.

Mitsuru would scold him and tell him that he needed to be more careful. She was always most concerned for the welfare of her teammates, and if he needed to shape up, Mitsuru would tell him in a heartbeat.

Sometimes, even Akihiko would get annoyed at him for almost losing another battle in Tartarus, or running away. Minato would have to come back later and say that he'd get more action the next time they went. Maybe in a few days, when they weren't so tired.

Thinking about it, he probably made a few mistakes in his final battle too.

Everyone was safe and the world was no longer plagued by the Dark Hour. Minato had to use his soul in combination with the Universe Arcana. This meant his body was left behind. He had died for this.

He could even remember how Aigis had held onto him so tightly on the rooftop of Gekkoukan High. She was so bright, but she cried after his soul had faded away. Everyone came rushing in after remembering their promises, but the happy mood turned to rain as the thought of his death settled in.

It almost broke his heart to see them so sad, but he knew it was for the best. It had been a few weeks since that day, and they were still trying to get over it. He'd used the leftovers of the Universe Arcana to watch them. They'd gotten themselves trapped in the Abyss of Time, and they finally found out what had happened to him.

If Minato still had a beating heart, he'd know that there was a weight lifted off it.

His friends looked so much happier after they'd managed to find a way to move on. It would've been nice to say that he wanted a part in all that happiness, but that was being selfish. Minato chalked it up to wishful thinking and his spirit smiled every time they experienced joy and frowned when they experienced sorrow.

It was fine to see them… but he was getting a little lonely just being chained there, doing nothing but guarding the Great Seal from Erebus. A sigh. He could watch his friends all he wanted from above, but even then, not being with them was a splinter in his skin.

On a whim, he decided to call. "Hello?" Minato asked. He didn't really expect a response and just sighed when there was none. Despite his doubt, it was still a harrowing thrust into his gut. He was just going to be stuck there for a while… Minato thought it wouldn't hurt to try once more. "Is anyone there?"

And nothing.

Another sigh. Maybe Nyx, the one behind his shoulder, wasn't intelligent… or maybe she was. He couldn't tell. But he wished that anyone could talk to him, even a little.

There was a voice. One he couldn't understand, but there was one.

But he couldn't think of a response. If it was Nyx he was talking to, and it likely was, he couldn't understand what she was saying to have a better response.

"So um… I guess I don't really have anything to talk about. I don't really have a good reason why, I'm just…" Minato struggled. He could hardly hold a conversation with her. But she didn't seem to be going away either. "I guess I'm lonely… I have all my friends, and they're safe, but… well, I guess I can't help missing them."

"I'm surprised she's trying to talk to you, Minato." He was surprised by the appearance of the voice. It was Ryoji. "She can't really talk, but… I think she's pondering something. Mother hasn't spoken in a while, and probably only in ancient Greek too… She barely understands what you're saying, and you her," Ryoji pointed out, hovering about on his black wings. There was some nearly inaudible whispers coming from the back, but Ryoji seemed to understand. "Oh man, I was right. She's only good with Greek. Anyways, she just said that she's wondering why you're missing your friends."

"Oh, uh… you can understand her?" Minato asked.

"I'm her son, of course I can!" Ryoji chuckled a little. "Why don't I play translator for a while?"

"Um alright. I'm missing my friends because I want to be with them as well… But I know that I can't go from the seal, because the Fall will happen." Ryoji nodded and said that for Minato.

"Hm… she says she can't relate," Ryoji relayed. "Mother says she's only bringing the Fall because people are wishing for it… but she finds your motivations to stay as the seal rather fascinating."

"Oh. Okay…" Minato bit his lip. How was he supposed to respond to that?

"Mother, are you sure? You haven't done anything like that for a very long time," Ryoji exclaimed. His cheerful demeanour morphed into shock. "Dad will probably get angry too…"

"What did she just say?" he asked.

"…Mother says that she can hold down the seal against Father for a while. And she wants to see what you mean," Ryoji explained. "I think she's just curious, but it also sounds really dangerous."

"Really…?" Minato looked off to the side. "But I don't know. I mean after all this time of getting over me, I'm just going to pop back into their lives?"

"…oh wow. She wants to see what happens anyways. I need to get you a TV!" He rubbed the back of his head. "Mother, I still think this is a really bad idea! Please, think it through!" Ryoji seemed taken aback by her response. "Oh no… I don't think I can stop her Minato…"

"Oh… um… well…" Minato trailed off. This actually did sound like a really bad idea… But the thought was at the same time compelling. "I guess… I don't really mind."

"But Minato!"

"I know, it's a bad idea… but I still want to see what she means too," he said quietly. "Are we going now?"

"Uh… um, she says you will in a little," Ryoji said. "I hope you both know what you're doing… Father's going to be really angry… I foresee black clouds in the future…"

With those last words, Minato's soul felt free from the barbed wires chaining him to the seal and Nyx's presence disappeared. He felt a body after all this time, with warm hands, skin against clothes, eyes seeing nothing, the sound of wind whistling in his ear, and a voice in his throat. A real one.

When he opened his eyes, Minato had to recompose himself from the light that struck him. They stung pretty badly… but that's what happens when you look straight up into the sun. "Where am I…?" he asked, trying out his voice. Minato almost couldn't articulate his sentence since he hadn't used his throat for so long, and it felt like cobwebs had formed in it.

"This is…" It was the rooftop of Gekkoukan High School. God, he hoped no-one was there.

Looking down at himself, he almost stumbled from not using his legs in a while. Or his arms. Or really anything else. He was clad in the Gekkoukan winter uniform, and it looked like even his mp3 player and earphones were fine too, if the former out of battery.

He looked around, bumping into someone while he observed the rooftop. She stood under his chin and he only saw her black head of hair at first. "O-Oh, sorry," he apologised quickly. "A-Are you alright?"

The girl gave what seemed to be a sound of affirmation before saying, "Nyx."

"W-Wait, your name is Nyx?" She was Nyx? Minato had imagined her to be much older, but she looked as if she hadn't aged a day from 16.

She gave him the same 'yes' from earlier. Nyx glanced at Minato and dragged her gaze to the door out. "Oh right, we should go," he stammered. Minato walked over to the door and she followed him, examining the doorknob.

Nyx had no idea how this doorknob worked, but couldn't articulate a sentence to indicate her wonderings. Nevertheless, she walked with Minato slowly down the stairs, nearly stumbling over the steps. It had been a while for her since she'd walked with a human body, at least since ancient Greek times. Otherwise she had her alternate form, which was an egg with spider web wings of some sort. Eggs didn't walk.

Minato didn't notice the fact that she was slowing down, and didn't until he reached the bottom of the stairs. He was just trying to get out of the school so he could see what was going on. The rooftop was uncharacteristically empty, so he thought that perhaps it was a Sunday. He hadn't been keeping track of the days in the week from the Seal.

She grunted in frustration as she made her way down, making Minato turn around. "S-Sorry… I'll slow down," he mumbled, shuffling his feet.

Nyx sighed and folded her arms before giving Minato an expectant look. She could only understand what seemed to be key words from his expressions and actions, but even then it was difficult to decipher any of it. Nyx was the mistress of the night sky; not of emotions, certainly. Nyx wanted to ask what he liked about his friends, especially since he left the Great Seal, which was keeping her away from Erebus. But she could hardly try to speak to him in Greek. It didn't appear as if he'd understand what she'd say.

It seemed as if she was waiting for him to move so Minato obliged and ambled down the next set of stairs. He did suppose that there wasn't much of a hurry so he could take his time. Actually, after being back in a living, breathing body, walking was something to get used to again. If he was a soul, he would've just floated around and would never have to use his feet. Ever. At least, he thought so.

Actually, how was it that he had this body in the first place? He didn't even have much of an idea what happened to his original body! Was it buried? Cremated? Or maybe it was just kept in the morgue!? Oh man, okay, maybe it wasn't that important now… but he was still very curious. Wasn't that natural?

"…name is Minato?" Nyx said quietly, barely catching Minato's attention. It was closer to a whisper.

"Uh… yeah?" No wait. He just nodded and 'mm'ed like she did before to signal he was agreeing. This was actually kind of embarrassing… How could he explain this? "Hm… 'mm' is…" Then, he nodded. So, they could speak more universally, if that made sense?

Nyx seemed to understand and nodded in response. Minato breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, happy that she comprehended. She was also curious about when the corner of his lips upturned. Nyx knew that it meant to signal happiness for the most part, but she didn't know what happiness meant. It was a dilemma on her part. "Friends…" She gestured to her lips, imitating his smile. He nodded in response. Minato wasn't completely sure, but thought she meant to ask whether his friends made him happy.

She was tickled by his response. Being with his friends gave him happiness. Nyx didn't know how or why, but figured that she'd find out sooner or later. It was still frustrating. She couldn't ask anything substantial because of the language barrier. If this was how it was going to be, she'd have to learn Japanese fast. It would also do well for Minato to learn about Ancient Greek, but Nyx wouldn't force him. Ancient Greek was quite archaic a language.

Minato raised an eyebrow, but continued walking. He so hoped there weren't any teachers around doing work. Any of them might've been able to recognise him. He didn't know it, but he was starting to pick up the pace again out of nervousness. And again, Nyx was getting left behind. "Minato."

"O-Oh, sorry!" he exclaimed. Minato figured that he needed to calm down, otherwise he'd lose her and he'd be worried. He backtracked and held out his hand. It would be easier, despite how awkward it would be.

At first, Nyx had no idea what he was getting at. Actually, she hadn't an idea until Minato took her hand and started pulling along. Her first instinct was to withdraw her hand, but he was holding on quite tightly. At this rate, all she was going to be learning from the Japanese language was how to say 'sorry' from how many times he said it so far.

He took her in stride, and while she was surprised by the change in pace, she also understood that on her own, she was quite slow and he didn't want her left behind. No, Nyx did not have an idea as to why he said sorry for this too, but she wouldn't and couldn't stop him. Maybe it was a bad habit of some sort.

They reached the bottom floor with some tripping and many apologies.

Minato peered around a pillar, checking to see if the coast was clear. There hadn't been any teachers so far, but he couldn't be sure if he was lucky or there just wasn't anyone there. He'd cause so much chaos if anyone who knew him saw him walking around like nobody's business. Nyx furrowed her brow and let out a small 'hm'. She hadn't an idea of this. Minato heard and gave her a grimace. He couldn't really explain then, and he couldn't explain period.

The expression left her musing for a few moments. It was like a smile, but wasn't. A troubled kind of smile. What did it mean? Facial expressions were difficult, she decided. She had a blank one most of the time herself.

Footsteps.

And they weren't Minato's or Nyx's, because they weren't moving then. Minato nearly froze and turned around, scrutinising the new presence like he would a Shadow lurking around the corner.

It was Ekoda. _That_ Ekoda, carrying files under his arm.

Minato rarely disliked anyone and he could usually reason with even the most unlikely people, like Mutatsu the drinking, cigar smoking monk or Tanaka the leader of the self-named mega corporation. They were strange, but in the end they were good people. He even felt like he had a little respect for Strega, and they were enemies. Ikutuski was tolerable, if a nutcase and a manipulative bastard. Honestly, the puns kept him from going any lower.

But Ekoda was his hate.

Ekoda was selfish. Ekoda was conservative to the extreme. Ekoda was stubborn. Ekoda was a bully.

"Minato?" Nyx blinked. He hadn't been saying anything and was just glaring at the teacher.

He nearly forgot she was there! She was so quiet and that one word made him jump. Minato quickly put a hand over his mouth, trying to tell her not to make a sound

Nyx copied him. And he nodded, telling her that was right.

She was confused, but decided not to say anything. Not that she could without it all sounding like gibberish. This must've been a tense moment for him.

Minato waited for Ekoda to leave into the faculty office corridor, then tip-toed with Nyx to the doors out. She didn't copy his caution literally, but stayed quiet for him.

Finally, they were out with no-one seeing them. Minato relaxed and turned back to Nyx, muttering apologies under his breath. "Why?"

"I… don't want people to see me yet," Minato tried to explain, although with the expectation that she wouldn't understand most of it. Thankfully this time, it did click. After seeing his behaviour in the lobby, she could guess. The reason behind staying out of sight would be tougher to comprehend, however.

She nodded and Minato took the cue to start his way to…

Oh. He remembered. The dorm closed a while ago. SEES probably wasn't going to stop their work, but he guessed that they didn't and couldn't use it if almost all of the members are at school, studying, or not at school, studying.

It was likely a Sunday from what he could tell, or some other holiday that he couldn't remember at the time without a calendar. That meant they were also likely to be out and about. Could be Paulownia Mall, the stations or the shrine, but someone had to be at least one of those places.

With that in mind, he set off with Nyx behind him. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he felt an ungodly amount of nothing. No wallet. Great. It looked like he'd just have to hope that someone was at Paulownia Mall. Decency for an mp3 player and earphones, but none for his wallet. Minato was pretty sure that it was wadded with cash too.

The walk was made in comfortable silence. Not that either of them could speak to each other Minato concentrated on navigating while Nyx looked around the buildings and shops. She hadn't seen any of them before, and Nyx thought that they weren't only fascinating, but different to the few Greek shops she'd seen before.

At the pace they went, the two reached Paulownia Mall in half an hour, give or take.

As Minato expected, the mall was buzzing with people and activities. He remembered that he always seemed to lose track of time at the arcade and that singing might've been his strong point when he went to Mandragora after all. He ended up joining the music club during school. It was also where he met Keisuke, the club president.

But no-one seemed to be there. No-one he could recognise anyways.

So, what could he do? He _could_ try going to the police station. If Kurosawa was there, he'd recognise him and be so surprised, even if the emotion didn't show on his stony face. While Minato didn't want to cause more trouble than it was worth, he also wanted to meet his friends as quickly as possible. "Um, let's go there," Minato said, pointing out the doors.

Nyx guessed what he said from where he was pointing, and mentally noted it. So now her vocabulary not only extended from 'sorry', but 'let's go there' too. Yay.

Upon opening the doors, Minato heard:

"Goddammit officer, I wasn't speeding! Give me my money back!"

"The cameras saw, and you made me chase after you. I can't say that isn't speeding! Or do you want me to press extra charges of resisting arrest?"

"But I was barely 1 kilometre over the speed limit!"

"It was 10. You have only one more chance and then your license is confiscated."

"Tch…" The male clicked his tongue. "Fine. Keep the damned money…" The angry teen then stormed out of the station, pushing past Minato and Nyx with barely an apology.

"Whew, he's a piece of work," the officer said. He noticed Minato and Nyx standing there, one with a dropped jaw and the other with a furrowed brow. "Hello! How can I help you?" he asked.

"Um… I'm looking for Officer Kurosawa," Minato replied, walking over to the desk.

"Oh, sure. Do you know him? Can I get your name?" he asked.

"…Minato Arisato," he answered.

He looked at Minato blankly. Then burst into laughter. "You're kidding right? He was declared dead more than two months ago."

"I-I'm not joking though," Minato protested weakly.

"He's just playing a prank, right?" the officer said, pointing his question to Nyx. "Kids these days…"

"He is Minato," Nyx answered slowly. She wasn't completely sure if she was saying it right, but from the slight smile Minato gave her, Nyx was partly reassured.

"Oh, you're playing along too?" he exclaimed. "C'mon, get outta here! We don't have time to deal with pranks and kids like you."

"What's wrong?"

Minato sucked in a breath, recognising the voice. "Kurosawa-san!"

"Hey, this kid is saying that he knows you and that he's the dead kid they announced two months ago," the officer laughed.

Officer Kurosawa looked Minato up and down. He did look like the kid for sure, and he did remember his face. It was when he came to buy the weapons they needed for their relief effort. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"What!? You're actually trusting this kid?" Kurosawa just stayed silent and waited for Minato to answer.

He breathed out a sigh of relief. Kurosawa remembered him! "It's a really long story… but I want to contact Mitsuru-senpai as soon as possible."

If he knew Mitsuru, then he had to be the real deal, however unrealistic the whole situation was. "I remember there were a lot of things going on last year that I didn't fully understand," Officer Kurosawa said. It was still difficult to believe any of it was true, but he couldn't deny that there was something going on in the background, and that the Apathy Syndrome victims finally recovered from their ailments. "I'll trust this is another one of those things."

"Thank you!" Minato said, bowing deeply.

"Hm," he nodded. Kurosawa wanted to ask about the girl with him, but he figured it wasn't relevant at the moment.

As he went to the back of the police station, the officer spoke up with, "At least he trusts you, but I dunno if I can believe the whole coming back from the dead thing."

Minato sighed. He was right about that. "I wouldn't have either." If he hadn't seen or known about the Dark Hour, he could never conceive such a thing. Even then, it was difficult to believe that someone just up and came back from the dead. Temporarily. He turned back to Nyx. He wanted to ask if she was bored, but she couldn't know the word for it, could she?

He placed his hand on the top of his head and then moved his hand to Nyx's. She lifted an eyebrow, trying to see what he was getting at. Yes, she knew she was short. "Short," Minato said.

"Short."

"You are short."

Nyx paused to deadpan at Minato. "I am short."

"You're pretty." It was true. But it was really just teaching adjectives.

"Pretty?" What did 'kirei' mean in Ancient Greek?

Minato sighed. If he wanted to teach her _words_ at least, he needed examples of them, otherwise it wouldn't make sense. "Police officer," he said, pointing at the example at the desk subtly.

"Police officer," she nodded in understanding. Minato beamed. It looked as if that was the way to go.

"Good job," Minato said, patting her on the head. Nyx figured it was praise of some sort, but stayed silent. Well, at least she was getting somewhere.

"You owe me… she almost yelled that she was going to execute me for suggesting what I did," Officer Kurosawa muttered. Cringe. "She says that you just wait here until she makes her way here."

"Thank you Kurosawa-san," Minato nodded back.

"Thank you…" Nyx said aloud.

"Mmhm," he said happily. Minato pointed at the wall. "Wall."

"Wall. It is a wall."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello guys. I guess call it a preview of what I've written so far and it's already different. It's literally here because I'm bored.<strong>

**Hope you enjoyed it, and feel free to ask questions to Nyx and the OCs that show up later.**

**Plz box me yo thoughts and I'll see you guys later.**


	2. Sword to Sword

Nyx narrowed her eyes at the two sticks in her hand. Despite having the resources for a three course lunch and more, Mitsuru (and many others) opted to have ramen for lunch. She could hardly come to grips with how to hold and use the dreaded chopsticks. It was hard to try and just copy the actions and positioning from seeing, and it was getting progressively harder due to her annoyance tinting her vision.

Moreover, she couldn't understand most of what the others were saying. Goddamn the language barriers. Which was funny, because… she was a god. And she just thought 'goddamn'… Okay, maybe it was only a little funny. Nyx gave a sigh and sank into her plush chair, becoming even shorter than she should have.

Seriously, she did wish she knew what they were saying.

On the other hand… maybe she didn't.

"I can't see how you can trust her! I don't," Junpei said, in between bites.

"I don't see how it works either," Yukari admitted. Maybe if she didn't pay as much attention to how Junpei was eating and talking at the same time, she could pretend she wasn't associated with him… "I mean… I… I'm really not feeling how we can trust her when she was going to bring the Fall before."

"I'm not… I'm not asking you to," Minato said. "I have a hard time trusting her too, but I'm sure she doesn't intend to hurt anyone either."

"If it makes you feel better, we will be keeping as close an eye on her as possible while Minato… well, until Nyx is satisfied," Mitsuru supplied.

"…what exactly is Nyx-san's goal?" Aigis asked.

"Hm… well, I'm not completely sure… and explaining the reason I think I have wouldn't really make sense," Minato said, rubbing the back of his head.

"What do you mean, Minato-kun?" Fuuka spoke.

"Well… I guess the whole reason I'm here is because um… well, I was thinking about you guys a lot…" Minato began, but was interrupted by Junpei's guffawing.

"Seriously!? Man, I knew you were a softie, but still!" he said with that trademark grin of his. "And what? Did Nyx think it wasn't that funny so she went out with you to make sure you weren't such a sadsack?"

And Minato was stunned. "Um… er… well, I was starting to complain aloud, and I couldn't understand what she was saying, but Ryoji could." The unspoken 'Ryoji!?' was left for later. "And he said something like… something like she wanted to see what made me happy around you guys…"

"Really? I didn't think someone like her would and could be interested in that kinda thing," Akihiko commented.

"Me neither…" he agreed. It was then that Minato finally understood and saw that Nyx was having trouble using her chopsticks. "Oh! Nyx, I'm sorry!" Minato exclaimed and immediately tried to demonstrate the proper usage of chopsticks. Of the ones that could laugh, they did so at Minato's apologetic demeanour. He always was prone to apologising for little to no reason.

While Minato taught Nyx about using chopsticks, the others talked about what they were doing in recent times. It was mostly for Minato to hear since he told them he'd been a little out of the loop.

"Well actually, Junpei met a new transfer student who came from America a while ago, and he moved into our class, didn't he?" Yukari said, glancing at him.

"Yeah! His name's Kanashi Evans," Junpei exclaimed. "One of his parents was Japanese and the other was British. They both had jobs in America, which was where they met."

"How do you know so much about him? Are you friends with him or something?" Yukari blinked.

"Actually, I met him a while ago," Ken supplied. "I just told Junpei more about him and then he started talking to Kanashi."

"How did you meet him?" Fuuka asked.

"I was taking Koromaru for a walk while he was walking to the boy's dorm," Ken explained. "He wanted to pet Koromaru, saying that he liked dogs. Then he started talking to me since he said he liked kids too…" It was clear that the last statement struck a chord in Ken, but he continued anyways, trying not to let out a sigh. "So later, I told Junpei about him."

"Yeah, he's actually pretty scary," Junpei sighed. "He doesn't take shit from _anyone_! If someone said something bad about him, he'd insult them like hell. In public. And if you _really_ got on his bad side, he'd beat you up. The good thing is that he hasn't done that yet, but I'd say it's pretty plausible that he'd do that to someone he didn't like."

"He sounds really intense," Minato commented, having shown Nyx the basic gist of chopsticks to Nyx. "Reminds me of this guy we saw at the police station. He was going off at the officer because he'd been caught speeding and led him on a bit of a chase. Or so they said. And he got fined so he wanted his money back."

"What?" Junpei blinked. "Kanashi was complaining about getting caught by an officer the other day for speeding. And he's been going back all this week trying to get his money back. He probably went back today too… are you saying that you actually met him?"

"Well no… he stormed right past me," Minato explained. "But still… you mean I just met this scary-sounding Kanashi Evans in passing at the police station. I'm more than a little afraid to be honest…" He shuddered visibly, making the two seniors chuckle a little.

"Yup. He's a short-tempered, witty, confident bastard with a motorcycle," Junpei nodded sagely, stroking his beard (read: goatee).

"He has a motorcycle too?" he blinked.

"Yeah. Hayabusa. Apparently his family's at least a little well off, since his dad is a lawyer," Junpei explained.

"Does he want to be a lawyer too?" Yukari asked. "It would kinda make sense…"

"Well, yeah actually," Junpei nodded. "Told me that he wants to study law. Can't blame him! He's pretty smart."

"I don't think test scores are a measure of intelligence…" Minato muttered.

"We know about your misgivings, Minato," Aigis said. "I can imagine that perhaps he is smart in other ways too. For his first test this term, he was one of the highest scoring students in the class." Of course, she would know since she had a look at the bulletin board. "He is also apt at wit and is very stubborn when it comes to discussions in class."

"That's interesting…" he mumbled to himself.

"It is interesting." Nyx said, having finished eating. Apparently she couldn't finish eating all of the noodles because they kept expanding in the soup. That and it was cold.

"What have you been teaching her Minato?" Fuuka asked.

"I was just teaching her some common phrases, nouns and simple adjectives," Minato replied.

"What language can she speak?" Aigis added.

"Um… ancient Greek," Minato answered awkwardly. He'd caught that from Ryoji while he was speaking with Nyx.

"…Arisato, you are very lucky. They actually do still teach ancient Greek in some European schools," Mitsuru said. "I believe that if you truly want to accommodate for… her needs, you should reciprocate her efforts to learn Japanese."

"O-Oh! That makes sense," Minato agreed. But English was hard enough already. How was he supposed to learn ancient Greek? He foresaw a lot of reading in his future. Minato turned back to Nyx. "I-I guess I can try, if she's trying too."

"We will have to see… At this point, even from what you've told us, her intentions are still unclear… I'd be wary of her," Mitsuru mused aloud. "By the way, I don't know how long you're staying here. We will have to organise some sort of accommodation for the two of you."

"Us two?" Minato blinked.

"Well, considering what amount of time you would have to be staying for, I don't see it being prudent to send you to Gekkoukan…" Mitsuru said, looking at the ground. She would've rather liked to see her kohai finish school, but it was a thin option.

"Uh, right…" Minato didn't think so either.

"I would've liked that," Yukari sighed. "But I suppose I can't complain if you've somehow made it back here, even for a little while…"

"I'm just glad my senpai is back," Ken smiled. "I didn't think I'd see you again."

"Arf arf!" Koromaru barked for the first time that meeting since seeing Minato. He agreed wholeheartedly. Koromaru also didn't mind Nyx. If he smelled danger from her, he would know and let everyone else know too.

"Going from earlier, you said you guys were 'gonna keep an eye on her', right?" Akihiko asked. "Why don't you just let them stay here Mitsuru?"

A small smile graced her lips. "I agree, Akihiko. Would you mind staying here, Minato?"

"I wouldn't mind at all. I'm more than grateful," Minato said, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish smile.

"I suppose it's settled then," she nodded. "I expect that I'll be seeing you all here often, but remember to keep studying too."

"Of course, Mitsuru-senpai," Fuuka exclaimed.

"I will do so," Aigis agreed.

"Well then… I suppose this first whole SEES meeting in a while has finished," Mitsuru said with a satisfied smile on her face. "I will organise your room shortly, so make yourself at home," she explained, mostly to Minato.

At this point, Minato wasn't quite sure whether it was on purpose, or because she wasn't sure about Nyx. "Sure."

…

"Um, Nyx?" Minato asked, knocking on her door.

Nyx looked from her desk, walked over, and opened the door for him. She still struggled to comprehend how it was that there could be so many doors. For example, the one she just used had a door_handle_. The one at the front entrance had a door_knob_. Don't even get her started on car and limo doors. "Hm?"

"Well… uh…" He wanted to go the school and see what was going on there, but only just remembered that she probably wouldn't be able to understand that. "Let's go?"

"Where?" she asked.

"School," he replied.

Nyx seemed confused for a moment, but relaxed after a few moments. She remembered that he used the word for school to refer to Gekkoukan. "Okay?" She nodded unsurely. Nyx hadn't an idea as to what school entailed, and although she knew she would find out if she went, she couldn't help but be a little apprehensive.

Minato pointed to the alarm clock on her desk which said '1:50'. And it was light out, so in the afternoon. He held up five fingers, trying to tell her that he'd be back in five minutes. Well, even if she didn't fully understand, he wasn't going to be back fast enough for it not to matter.

Yes, she had a blank face on. So that meant she didn't really know what he meant.

He bolted from her room, leaving a confused Nyx behind. She decided he'd come back later and went about recounting the recent events.

It had been quite the hassle trying to organise the everyday items that she'd use like a whole wardrobe, things to put in the guest room which would be useful, and her vocabulary for the new things that were introduced to her. Ultimately, it was a joint effort between Yukari, Fuuka and Mitsuru to get her stuff organised, and Minato to help translate things for her.

Minato had expressed an interest the day before to go to school without being a student. After some processing, a bit of pleading and a lot of cute smiles, Mitsuru decided to give both a visitor's pass to the school.

Why?

Because there were things to see and people to meet.

Maybe not that Kanashi Evans guy.

As Nyx finished running through things in her head, Minato came back, dressed quite differently. Or at least, different enough that he wouldn't be recognisable by people who didn't know he was just dressing differently. His swept his fringe under a cap, and his usually grey eyes were now brown using coloured contacts. Othewise, his get-up was pretty typical with a t-shirt and jeans. On top, he wore a hoodie which helped to hide his unusually coloured hair.

"Let's go," he said, handing her a tag to put on. Of course, he demonstrated how and she copied him.

They used a leisurely pace to get to the school and they ended up there at about 2:15, somewhere near the beginning of last period. Minato spent the time until school ended teaching Nyx new words and phrases, using the surroundings as examples. It was difficult… and he definitely needed to learn how to speak ancient Greek _fast_.

"Oh, they're starting to move…" Minato mumbled, hearing the students' chatter grow in volume from below him. He decided to stay on the rooftop, so he wouldn't attract _too_ much attention before school ended. It was either that or sitting by the steps, camping out the canteen for melon bread.

Seeing as school had ended with the ring of the bell, Minato stood and beckoned Nyx to follow him. "Let's go," he said. Minato's first stop was at the kendo club, seeing as he thought Kazushi would be there, at least watching everyone if he hadn't already healed his leg and was back in action. Although, it had already been several months since they first discovered his knee injury and had surgery, so perhaps he was already up and about. Minato encountered the kendo members getting ready to practise with one sole member already starting on his katas.

"Sorry, new members aren't being accepted," a loud voice called. It was Kazushi in kendo gear.

"Oh no, I just came to watch," Minato replied.

"Well, I guess you can stay, but just don't cause any trouble, you hear?" Kazushi warned, propping his shinai on his shoulder. "What's your name?"

"Um…" Was he supposed to tell or not? He'd probably be scared out of his shit if he said he was actually Minato… Quick! Think of a name! Names! "I'm… uh, you can call me Minoru. This is Rin," Minato introduced. He changed two characters in hiragana. Wonderful job. "I'm a friend of Minato… and he told me that he used to go to kendo club here."

"Minato?" Nyx asked quietly.

"Y-Yeah," he nodded, putting his hand over his mouth to tell her to be quiet. Nyx was confused, but decided not to dwell on it. He would probably _try_ to tell her later.

"Heh. Looks like the guy had more friends than I thought… Well, I guess a friend of Minato is a friend of mine," Kazushi grinned.

"Thanks," Minato nodded.

After settling in the room, the two of them watched the members train and have some sparring maths. The one boy that ready before all the others also seemed to perform the best. "Man… he's almost as good as Minato was," Kazushi commented.

"Really?" Minato's interest was definitely piqued.

"Yup. He appears not to move much at first, and waits for his opponent to make the first move. It's rarely that his opponent gets a point even then, since he always counters quickly. It's hard to dodge and even to parry, since he's got a lot of raw strength up his sleeve," Kazushi explained.

"Looks like you win again, Hibiki," one of the members groaned.

The newly named Hibiki didn't seem to answer. Instead, he just bowed, thanked his opponent for the match and quietly left the ring. "Oi, Hibiki!"

"Yes, captain?" Hibiki asked Kaz as he took off his headgear, and let loose his wild, brown hair.

"Great job! You didn't even get a scratch," Kazushi grinned.

Hibiki's cheeks were flushed with embarrassment, and he looked at the ground uncomfortably. "T-Thank you," he smiled a little.

"No prob! I want you meet someone… and he says he wants to have a go with you, even though the guy isn't even part of the club," Kazushi laughed, gesturing to Minato.

"Oh! Nice to meet you. I'm Hibiki Yamato," he introduced with a bow. "Um, after this match, would you mind?"

"That's fine. You can call me Minoru." Minato reciprocated his bow.

During the next match, Minato put some kendo gear on like he remembered and took a shinai, trying to get used to the feeling again. His muscles clicked, clacked and whirred into action as he swung. His legs were set in a stance, set, but not locked. His eyes were narrowed, despite the lack of a real opponent in front of him.

Hibiki and Minato made their way to the ring, members murmuring things like, 'the newbie's gonna be destroyed' and 'Hibiki's so taking him down'. Minato ignored all of it, however. He was too focused on the match ahead and the anticipation flowed through like electricity that excited every single one of his nerves. Hibiki seemed not to pay any mind to the outside chatter either. They were all distractions before an opponent.

When they were called to start, neither of them moved an inch. Minato's style was quite similar to Hibiki's; he preferred not to waste too much energy and waited for his opponent to move so he could calculate his responses thereafter. Waiting out his opponent often made them annoyed and more likely to make mistakes.

With two similar styles, the wait was thick with tension like a blanket. From what Minato had seen so far of Hibiki, he wasn't an aggressive type. And he wasn't just referring to fighting style. Rather, Hibiki seemed much more peaceful and would never hurt a fly without a good reason.

But while Minato could come off as meek and apologetic, he could also change. He wasn't the Wild Card for nothing.

"They're just standing there!"

"What the hell's up with that!?"

"Quiet! They're concentrating," Kazushi hissed.

Nyx didn't have much of an idea as to what was going on between them. She hardly understood how kendo worked. The good thing was that she was interested, and wondering what their next moves were going to be like.

Minato breathed out the stiffness of the air and struck.

Hibiki's eyes widened and he moved his shinai to block. Oh, but it was a feint! He almost didn't block Minato's next strike, and even then, he could still feel the force of the blow travelling up his arms. It was clear that he couldn't simply fall asleep now.

As Minato drew backwards, Hibiki moved his shinai to strike his slightly open side with as much speed as he could muster in a short amount of time. Minato almost stumbled as he tried to sidestep, and despite his imbalance between his feet, managed to swing upwards to Hibiki's side.

Point.

He slowly moved back into a stance, still a little surprised by how Minato managed to get a point out of that exchange. Hibiki didn't anticipate that he'd be able to attack while still recovering. Despite the surprise, however, he was far from disappointed. Rather, he was glad. Glad to have a challenge.

Thus, the next few minutes ensued and ultimately revealed Minato as the winner. The match was very close, and at first, no-one could tell where the points were going to go to first. "Whoa… he's good…" Kaz muttered as the two bowed to each other. In fact, that Minoru kid seemed to move very much like how Minato did… but maybe he was just imagining it. The other kendo members were also no strangers to whispering between themselves about the exchange.

"Um, Minoru-san… you're really good," Hibiki smiled a little.

"Thanks," Minato said, reciprocating his smile. "Good game." He held out a hand, which Hibiki gladly shook.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello guys. Hope you enjoyed the two chapters here. (Yeah, I finally finished writing the one I'd been keeping for a while, so yay) Surprised about the support so far, but I'll do my best.<strong>

**Again, questions are open if you're interested. Why not try Nyx and Hibiki? **

**Plz box me yo thoughts and I'll see you guys later.**

**Guest: Thanks, and I'll try.**

**Aniki120: Bruh, if you don't want to read another remake, then you don't have to. Just to reiterate something I might've said before; this is mostly for me so don't force yourself to read this if you're happy with the original already.**


	3. Episodic Time Lapse

One might've said that the moment Minato and Nyx stepped out of the kendo club was when things spiralled quickly out of control.

Why?

He bumped into someone on the way out. And not just any someone.

Minato looked up to see a male with messy black hair and gleaming green eyes that seemed to promise death if you did something wrong in his line of sight. He was dressed in a red plaid shirt with rolled up sleeves, jeans, tartan Chucks, a school blazer tied around his waist and had white bindings tied from the beginning of his forearm to his fingers.

It was the same guy that Minato saw at the police station; Kanashi Evans.

"What the hell?"

"Sorry! I didn't see where I was going! I didn't mean anything, I swear!" Minato blurted out, wanting to crawl into a ball in the corner where no-one could see him. Including Nyx.

Kanashi narrowed his eyes at Minato for a few moments but eventually relaxed. The guy actually seemed pretty scared of him. It was just as well, since he was Kanashi mothercanucking Evans, but this wasn't what he was expecting. Well, for that matter, neither did the girl behind him. True enough, he just seemed to bump into him too… so. "No harm done."

"O-Oh, really?" he asked.

"My reputation might precede me, but I'm not going off at someone for no reason either," Kanashi scoffed as a smirk spread across his face. God, it was the smirk of a predator. He was going to come after him in his sleep with those sharp eyes and stab him with said sharp eyes before pulverising him, tearing him inside out and putting him up in a museum as a form of humiliation. Help. "How in blue hell did you seem to know who I was _anyways_? I haven't seen you before—not even once." Wait, what? Minato was pretty sure even this short-tempered guy that just stormed out next to him would've noticed him…

"Um… Junpei told me about you before…" Minato replied, twiddling his thumbs. Junpei, save him!

"Oh, goatee," Kanashi nodded. And he seemed calm, but… "Junpei! Get over here!" he shouted behind him.

There were only a few minutes before Junpei came scuttling down the corridor with a smile. "Kanashi my man! How're you doing?" he asked.

"Haha, great… Imma just gonna cut to the chase right now…" Kanashi began with a jovial grin on his face. "What in blue hell did I say about spreading rumours about me behind my back!?" His words and tone betrayed him.

Eep. "W-Whoa man! Chill! I probably just told _him_ about you," Junpei protested. Minato had to resist the urge to facepalm. "Wait, who is this guy?" Again, the urge rose within him. Maybe his disguise was a little _too_ good.

"What do you mean?" Kanashi rolled his eyes. "What the hell do you mean, when you say 'who is this guy'? I kinda remember the girl behind him from somewhere, and okay, she's kinda cute too…" He momentarily trailed off. Nyx didn't react at all, but that was mostly because she didn't understand what Kanashi meant. "But what about you? Are you blind or forgetful? Speak woman or forever hold your pieces!" he demanded.

"Geez! I can't even see his face properly! Cut me some slack," Junpei complained.

"Aw… well, it's probably because of what I'm wearing," Minato sighed. He pulled off his hoodie and cap after checking that the coast was clear. "Can you see now, Junpei?"

"Minato? What the heck are you doing here?" Junpei exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, you look a little familiar now," Kanashi decided. "Weren't you the kid I saw at the police station yesterday?"

"Yeah… except, if people recognise me, that's kind of a problem," Minato murmured, putting back on his hat and cap. "Um, anyways, we should be going, so…"

"Wait a bit," Kanashi commanded, folding his arms. "Who's that chick with you anyways?" he asked.

"Oh, she's just a friend," Minato replied.

"I feel sorry for ya man," Kanashi sighed, making Minato lift an eyebrow. "If I didn't already have a girlfriend, I'd tap that."

"U-Uh… n-no, I think I'm fine. I don't think you should do that and… I don't know how she'll react," Minato gulped, a blush spreading across his cheeks.

"Interesting. Well alright, you may go now. Run along," Kanashi said. Of course, he still wondered about Minato and the girl with him, but he supposed he could deal with that later. Besides, it wasn't as if he could be gone so easily.

"Uh, right." With every bit of speed Minato had, he grabbed Nyx by the wrist and scurried away to the exit of the school.

"Nice kid. A bit spineless," Kanashi commented.

"Well actually, Minato's pretty brave!" Junpei shrugged. "Braver than most. He's just awkward."

Kanashi deadpanned at Junpei for a little while, severely turning up the tension levels. Who disagreed with him? Not just anyone. "I ain't hearing it," he decided.

"Why's that?" Junpei asked.

"You need to learn to keep your mouth shut. Someday, someone's going to rip your lips off because you blabbed something important, and I'm going to laugh saying 'I told you so'," Kanashi said, putting his hands behind his head. Junpei shifted uncomfortably. Well, he wasn't quite expecting that. "I'm making my own judgement on the guy, so… until then just _relax_ and calm your farm."

"U-Uh… right," Junpei nodded slowly. "Wait, where are you going?"

"Boxing club to see if I can annoy that Yashiro kid," Kanashi grinned.

"Yashiro? Who's that?" he asked.

"The captain of the boxing team! He's the kid with a cap, always wearing polos and long sleeved shirts as if they were the next fashion statement with track pants? You haven't heard of him?" Kanashi asked.

"Well, no?" I haven't heard of someone called Yashiro before," Junpei said.

"He's in 3B… and he pretty much always keeps a low profile," he shrugged. "Ideally, well… actually, people shouldn't really know about him."

"How come you do then?"

…

A frown crossed a man's face. His hand was useless, and he was very sure that the other player had a better one. "I fold," he murmured.

A thin smirk spread across a young teen's face. He didn't imagine that poker could be so easy for once. Poker was 1 per cent luck, 49 per cent counting and 50 per cent psychology. His boy didn't claim to understand every nuance of psychology, but he knew that by exuding confidence he opened opportunities for him to press and win. The perpetual smirk that he donned was his mask alone. Heck, it wasn't just for poker; he used it just about _everything_ if the situation called for it. They became unsettled, hardly able to make rational decisions… and that ultimately led to his victory.

Prowess came with practise. By noting what cards the other player discarded, he could try to predict what hand he was trying to make. You hid when you had a good hand, and in the boy's case, always _look_ like you had the upper hand even when you didn't. Well, this time he did. He had a full house.

His opponents were almost always older than him, often by large margins. They weren't necessarily the types that talked down to him because of his age, but it was highly likely that they at least wouldn't take him seriously at first glance. He wasn't completely sure that was the cause with this man that he just faced… the important thing was that he won. That comprised about a fifth of his savings for that week that didn't come from work.

The teen exited the venue 1000 yen heavier than before. While you could gamble, they never let you bet large amounts. For the most part, it was supposed to be a friendly and fun sort of game where the only things that would change the sway of the game was your skill, and a little bit of luck.

He rarely thought that he had any luck, and he was pessimistic enough to think that he only possessed the bad kind. He had skill, and that was all he used.

And he most certainly didn't go there to make friends. Even one thought about friends left bile in his mouth, and an unpleasant aftertaste.

The game just entertained him. It was stretching, jogging and reps for his mind. He always needed something to focus on. If boxing didn't do it for him, poker certainly did and delivered in spades.

He made his way to Paulownia Mall with the intent of going to Power Records. Paying not too much attention to the other people in the store, he headed to the instrument section and saw someone playing just what he was looking for. Was there another Gibson Les Paul Ultra in the store? No.

"Excuse me."

"Yup? Do you want to look at this?" the girl asked.

"Yes please." He nodded.

"Sure!" She handed the guitar over to him before walking off into the keyboard section. Heaving the guitar into his hands, he sighed and looked at the price tag, internally screaming about the price. Someday, he was going to get this damned guitar. He wasn't sure how happy he'd be about having it and being able to play on the same kind of guitar as his idol… but he was sure that he would be. "You go to Gekkoukan, right?" The girl from before came back, observing his school blazer.

"Yes. And?" The teen gave a sigh. Tell him that she had some other reason to talk to him other than the oh-so valid 'why not?'

The girl seemed to be perturbed by his terse demeanour, but pushed on anyways. Even if he mightn't have liked her for whatever reason, there was no way that he could refuse this: "Well, I have that guitar you want at home, but I want a keyboard. Not a guitar."

"What are you asking?" he sighed, already wary of her proposition.

"I'm saying you can have my guitar if you help me pay for my keyboard instead. It costs less, and you'd only have to pay for half of it," she explained.

His eyes widened. Was she serious? On one hand, his pride wanted him to refuse. His common sense yelled down at his pride and was saying that he didn't magically have 200000 yen on him. "How much?"

"40000 yen," she replied. She grinned, seeing as he was at a loss for words.

"Deal."

"Not so fast pickhead." Wait, what. "I don't want you backing on out on this thing."

He wasn't sure whether to be sighing at the fact that she wanted some kind of proof that he wouldn't betray her expectations, or being shocked at the fact that she really just called him pickhead. And he could tell what she was referencing too… It was _one letter_ away from being marginally more disastrous than it could be. It was a horrible nickname. "Then what?"

"I could make you and I do this blood sibling ritual in a movie I saw, but I don't have a knife, don't have milk for the moment, or a container… so that plan's out the window." The boy cringed visibly. What the heck was she on about? "Look I'm gonna go and do some moss graffiti, so don't forget…

"No seriously, I'm not going to back out. I have no reason to, and this is in both our best interests," he intoned.

"Oh fine, whatever you say pickhead," she said, eyeing him warily.

"It's not pickhead," he muttered.

"Then what _is_ your name?"

"Yashiro. Yashiro Tsukigata."

"I'm Yui Takizawa. Nice to meet you!"

…

"I just heard another rumour before that the boxing captain was getting bored… so I came over, and later we bashed each other into submission. Now I know him," Kanashi explained simply. "He's far from a friend, but he's good to take out frustration on."

"He was bored?" Junpei blinked.

"He always needs someone to keep him on his toes. That's what he said to me," Kanashi replied. "He's a pretty good fighter, but hey. Even I got a few hits in."

"Who won?"

"No-one! We both got too tired out and we called it a draw," Kanashi sighed.

"Aw what? Really?" Junpei groaned. Talking about anti-climactic!

"Yup. All of it. For _nothing_," Kanashi sighed once more and slid the doors open to the boxing club's room.

"Uh, Yashiro-senpai didn't come today," one of the junior members said.

"Any idea where he might be?" Kanashi pressed.

"No, not really…"

"Fine, alright…" Kanashi replied. The response was calm, but now he was mad. Though he quietly closed the door, he was itching to hit something. Perfect. The wall would do. BANG! Inconvenient little bastard… Junpei chose (quite wisely) not to get involved with Kanashi's rage, lest he ended up just like that poor wall. "Screw it. I'm going to Paulownia Mall!" Kanashi declared.

He was out of the school as fast as his legs could carry him.

Junpei decided not to follow. He just wasn't bothered.

On the other hand, Kanashi was off with his motorcycle to Paulownia, driving at perfectly reasonable speeds. No seriously, he only ever was a tiny bit of a kilometre over the speed limit. "If I find him…" he muttered to himself, thinking about having a nice, relaxing _scrap_ in which he might finally beat down that little shit.

Oh yes, Yashiro was one of those light-footed fighters that danced around like ballerinas with hit and run tactics. It was annoying as fuck! Kanashi was definitely slower in comparison, but when he stepped, he stepped long. His raw strength was also nothing to be scoffed at.

Kanashi nearly stomped into Paulownia Mall, intending to go to the arcade and take out his anger on some Street Fighter… but that was when he saw Yashiro exchanging phone numbers with a short, but cute girl dressed all in red.

"So, don't call me too often, otherwise I'll think you're desperate," Yui joked, grinning mischievously at Yashiro.

"Trust me. I won't," he replied dryly. Yui just stuck out her tongue playfully in response and skipped off, past Kanashi.

This was the perfect opportunity. "Hey! Did the sad little virgin finally get himself a girlfriend?" Kanashi asked, a smirk spreading across his lips as Yashiro's expression changed from a blank one to one of distaste.

"She's not my girlfriend," Yashiro said slowly.

"Oh, that's still pretty sad." Kanashi shook his head.

"Did I do something to displease you or something?" he asked, rolling his eyes with a mocking tone dripping from his words.

"Yeah. You weren't at the boxing club for me to pulverise."

"You couldn't annoy someone else? I have a life too," Yashiro sighed. "I'm going. Have fun by yourself." He strode past Kanashi, but was caught on the shoulder.

"Really? You're gonna leave, just like that?" Yashiro stopped and was about to formulate a response, but decided against it. If he said anything, he'd be there all day and that wasn't what he wanted that day. He took Kanashi's hand off him and jogged his way out of the mall. "What's up with that bitch…?"

He wasn't sure whether to be annoyed that he ignored him, or to be understanding that he indeed, had his own shit that he had to deal with.

Well, he could just do both and call it a day. That worked too. Kanashi could get him back another time. "Time to crush some skulls…" He grinned, walking into Game Panic.

…

Minato and Nyx were back at the Kirijo Mansion a bit later in the afternoon. He thought it would be a good idea to show Nyx around to some other places scattered around the Port Island area.

For the most part, they walked more in Iwatodai and entered places like the strip mall and Naganaki Shrine. He taught her some new words and hoped that she'd remember them. What would be hard to teach was sentence structure and many, many abstract words. For that he'd actually have to learn Ancient Greek.

So the two of them were sitting in the dining room; one of them looking at the Ancient Greek alphabet and the other looking at hiragana characters.

Nyx often looked to Minato to know what the characters sounded like, and Minato to Nyx to know how to pronounce the letters. He'd probably never actually speak it, because Nyx would know how much he was messing up. "Argh! I don't understand!" he exclaimed.

"Now he knows how I feel …" Nyx muttered. She guessed that he was complaining about learning the language from his angry tones and she caught 'I don't' from the sentence along with the obligatory shout of indignation.

Minato sighed. Nyx didn't sound very enthused either, and he wasn't even sure what she said. Well, at least once he figured out how to write in Ancient Greek, it would be much easier to teach Nyx what more things meant. One didn't simply point to some people hanging out together and say 'that's friendship!' unfortunately. Now only was it still ambiguous, but you couldn't be sure about what the relationship between the people themselves was like. Friendship and displays of it varied from person to person after all.

By being able to refer to both examples and specific words in context, it would be easier for Nyx to know what she was looking out for. "Nyx," Minato said, holding a piece of paper that showed in her language, 'friend'. "Tomodachi."

Except, she was confused. He'd used a different letter than what she would've expected. "Tomodachi?" She pointed to one of the letters and showed him his mistake.

Smack.

"Goddammit…" Minato removed his hand from his forehead.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello guys. Hope you liked this chapter and hopefully for you guys, I start writing faster. Again, questions open if you feel like it.<strong>

**Plz box me yo thoughts and I'll see you guys later.**

**Questions**

**To Kanashi: Pft, did you get the money back?**

**Kanashi: *growls* Not yet. I swear I will though. Fucking good-for-nothing police…**


	4. As the Crow Flies

He thought the place was too dark.

Seriously! He'd resorted to using an eye patch to train his night vision, pretend his eye had a problem at school when he switched eyes, then switched them _again_ when he came back into the building.

The building _could_ have been much brighter, but the asshole who made it never, ever turned the lights on. Meagre and dim lighting only came from the sides of the metal corridors. Even then, they were too spaced apart to be of any real use.

Was there a reason for all this atmosphere?

Well, not really. Not _atmosphere_ in particular anyways. Depended on how you defined it. The guy who made the building saw better in the dark than in light. How did that make sense? No-one but the leader knew something like that.

The boy clad in dark blue opened the door that clunked as the knob turned and entered a large room. It was decorated only with a tattered rusty flag—The symbol of a horned animal; two of its mirror images faced away from each other burned into the fabric. Aside from that, there were only tables and chairs sparse like desert grass across the area of the room. But you couldn't really call that decoration, could you?

"Do you have anything to report, Landon?" the smooth voice of but one Takaya spoke.

"All I want to say is that the new site has been functioning awesomely and that the others are taking out their targets no swear," Landon replied, propping his hand on his hip. Although he was relaxed, violet eyes forced themselves to meet Takaya's yellow. "But, I have to wonder whether you're worried about the media coverage that's been going around the newsagencies. Sooner or later, those dimwits from the police are gonna try and take it down."

"I understand your concern, Landon. But rest assured that they cannot take it down; at least not before enough members are gathered." Takaya smiled, but not one of warmth—one of sick, cold amusement. Landon opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, Takaya explained, "One of the others in your group is helping to maintain the encryptions and those finer details that keep our work protected are being handled by yet another."

"Who?"

"I believe it is Alexia and Ryan that are working," he replied.

Landon nodded and breathed out. Well, here went nothing. "Permission to speak?" Takaya regarded him with cold eyes, but gestured for him to go on. "In gathering new members and other important shit like that… I'm wondering where all this effort is gonna go to in the end. I'd feel a little better knowing there was a solid goal to work towards that I understood, yeah?" While Landon said all those things aloud, he was partly still thinking about how much he tended to swear when he spoke. It was almost like he couldn't get past even one sentence without cussing.

A chuckle burbled from Takaya's thinly made smile. "We are of course, working towards the end of everything; this has been advertised countless times in our campaigns." Landon agreed. Not knowing something like that would probably get you probed for either being a spy or being stupid, and kicked out for sure. Which he didn't want. "To this end, one event is vital: The two deities of darkness must meet. Doing so will not be a simple task, however. I can think of a number of people that would hope to get in our way, should they know of our plans," he laughed bitterly. "Thus, our master must gain enough power to destroy all that oppose him. This is the simplest solution yet."

"The people have to do with this… how?" Landon raised an eyebrow.

Takaya grinned. "I'm afraid that is a story for another time."

Landon narrowed his eyes for a moment before sighing. "Tch. Be that way." He groaned, walked out and ignored the amused look Takaya was giving his back as he exited. "Oh, if only he knew what dreadful purpose they served…" Takaya's grin faded.

On the other hand, Landon finally relaxed in the corridor. That Takaya dude was uncomfortable to be around and if he wasn't at least a little saner, he would've never considered joining in on this mess in the first place. But someone made him crazy and he had to join after her, so that explained why he was there. "Phew… time to take this damned thing off…" The cloak he began to unclip was supposed to be his uniform that helped to keep him hidden at night time. The blue blended in with the colour of the sky, so it would be difficult to spot any one of them.

There was Landon, Heather, Ryan, Alexia, Valencia, Liam and Alice. Of course, those weren't their real names; all of them were Japanese and they were English pseudonyms that they made up.

After finding his way out of that labyrinth of a building, he removed the whole of his coat and hung it over his shoulder. 'Landon' made his way to the boy's dorm for Gekkoukan High School and opened his room to none other than a mass grave for electronic devices. It included phones, portable consoles, hard drives and the like. "Come on. My house is cleaner than this by a mile and my father drinks almost 24/7. How are you this messy, you slob?" Landon groaned.

The culprit simply flipped him off. Of course. Sometimes he wondered how he dealt with this little shit for more than two months already. "How much? A speck bigger than your dick?" he asked with an unapologetic grin on his face.

"I _ought_ to hack yours off and make it the appropriate size, bitch," Landon replied simply.

"You're lucky I at least know you're joking…" Kanashi stood and lumbered into Landon's personal space. "But it still pisses me off." His knuckles met cheek.

Landon's head spun to the side. If he was a different man without a special power of some sort, he might've hissed in pain, nursed his wound… generally, he would've shown blatant weakness. "Thanks, Kanashi," Landon rolled his eyes as he dimly removed the hand from his face.

"You're welcome Kurow," Kanashi just smiled. But it was soon wiped from his face when Kurow (or Landon) rammed his fist into Kanashi's stomach. "Son of a bitch…!" he growled, reeling from the blow and clutching his gut.

"Honestly, calling my mother by that name is too good! It's almost flattering!" Kurow grinned. 'And yeah, my father's a complete douche, if you're going to use the other, painfully obvious choice."

"You mean 'bastard'?" Kanashi deadpanned.

"Yup."

Kanashi scoffed. "Predictable. I was going to call you mutated man bitch."

"That works too!" Kurow exclaimed, pounding his open palm with the side of his fist. He was probably too used to being insulted to care. What mattered was that he was able to come up with creative responses to putdowns and more combinations of curses on the fly to catch them off guard. It was either that or he could answer back with his own brand of wit… which of course, Kanashi would say was nothing compared to his. Any sane person would think it would be a bad thing and the others would probably laugh along with _his_ internal laughter.

"Tch. Be warned that I will get you back for this." Kanashi narrowed his eyes.

Kurow knew that he wasn't exactly joking around with it either. Kanashi had a way with vengeance like no other person he'd seen. Well, he knew he'd just have to brace himself. The first time of many since the beginning of the school year, Kurow found his carefully crafted locker messed with the next day (He couldn't quite remember what insult he used or what he did. He teased people too often to know something like that.). Kanashi ransacked his weed stash and his pile of textbooks. He had to do the most embarrassing things to get them back. Which may or may not have included being forced to cross dress.

Somehow, Kanashi always seemed to come up with new forms of humiliation every time that Kurow did something to 'disrespect' him. That's what he called it anyways. As it was, these were more like fun little jokes at his expense. If there was anything even remotely unacceptable, Kanashi wouldn't be _playing_. As far as the rumours were concerned anyways.

Kanashi had a reputation for never tolerating anything that he considered to be 'disrespect' to him. If someone did, he would bear down on them with verbal lashing and possibly physical abuse. But, it depended on the person. If it was someone that he didn't know very well, he'd probably act polite until he did know them better, so as not to be a hypocrite.

On the other hand, knowing him well enough would turn his polite talk into that of insults and witty remarks. Kanashi would change how he acted so that insults almost became like exchanges of affection. It seems degrading to the outsiders, but they knew that it was a joke, so Kanashi and the other person would insult each other to no end for harmless fun. That happened with Junpei, Kurow and Yashiro already. He didn't trust them _fully_, but it was as close as he was ever going to get to someone else.

Unless you counted Naito. But that was a story for another time.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry," Kurow chuckled. "Anyways, I just came in here to drop some stuff off…"

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to a friend's place," he replied.

Kanashi was almost about to say 'you have _friends_!?' but stopped himself. No-one really thought the same way he did about friends, and it was a low blow, even for him. Moreover, Kurow wasn't being the depraved soul he could be. "Welp, have fun then. Don't forget about the homework you were supposed to do or something."

"Won't be doing that, but thanks." After a while, Kurow headed to his friend's apartment. Instead of knocking on the door like a normal person, he hopped in through her open window. Oh yes, she did that on purpose. Why? Neither of them were about to deal with her father.

"Hello."

"Oh, Kurow!" A girl with light brown hair, fair skin and silver eyes turned to face him. "How are you?" Her eyes were drawn to the bruise on Kurow's cheek. "Hey, you're hurt! And it's all swollen too… how did that happen?" she asked, sitting next to where he did on her bed.

"It's nothing, Hikari. We were just playing. I gave him a good punch to the gut anyways," Kurow explained briefly.

"But Kurow, you're hurt. I wish I knew some healing spells…" she sighed.

Kurow shrugged. "Don't worry about it. What's been up with you, besides… well, killing people and spreading rumours?"

Hikari breathed out. She knew he was just changing the subject. Quite suddenly too. She laid her head on Kurow's shoulder and he resisted the urge to flinch. She'd done this before, but it still made him nervous. "Nothing much… but with the work we're doing, I've stopped using that knife…"

"Don't say things like that. It's not cool." The revenge site of course, worked on a group that went out and killed the designated targets. And while he was part of that group, he'd never killed anyone yet. Being honest with himself, he didn't have the balls to, however rough and tough he could act. Instead, he was designated as recon, messenger and the like. He watched the others make their kills, reported to Takaya and helped to send the notifications for successful kills.

"Well, it wasn't like you had to follow me, right?"

Kurow's jaw locked up. True. But he pressed on. "That's because I care about you. Do you honestly think I'm just going to stand and watch you kill those other bitches and put yourself in all that danger?" he asked, but didn't give Hikari a chance to reply. "I can't do that. I'm… I'm your friend after all," Kurow mumbled. Couldn't she see that?

His remaining thought was left unspoken as Hikari talked. "I know you are." He didn't believe she did. "But I'm fine." He certainly didn't believe that either. She wasn't fine goddammit!

He sighed and enveloped Hikari in a warm hug, holding her as she shuddered with the threat of tears. "Please, stop lying."

"I'm sorry."

He still remembered that time he was running from home—from his father. Kurow bumped into Hikari on the street, still angry and sobbing from when was lashed with his father's belt. His mother couldn't do shit because if she did, she'd become yet another target of his drunken rage.

His father thought that Kurow was an accident, yet neither of them separated. Why? They probably thought something along the lines of taking the moral high ground by taking care of Kurow when he was born.

Kurow distinctly remembered when his father yelled those thoughts with beer stained breath, expelled from his sunken mouth with no abandon like the spittle that shot out. All to his and Kurow's hysteria. He couldn't stand it.

Two thirds of the day was spent outside the house rather than inside and running from that hell hound father, doggedly accusing him of being the source of all his problems. He really just didn't want to take responsibility for Kurow; the burden. He did his best to tear him apart, and his teeth sunk deep.

The other third was him sleeping, trying to dream his way out of his father's grip.

The one day Kurow and Hikari met, they were children—no older than seven. Bearing in mind that his father was far from fit to run, Kurow was walking into a side street when he saw Hikari being mistreated by her father. Recognising the situation, he tried to be a hero and ran in, guns blazing. It didn't exactly work, but she was safe in the end. Her father left her outside when Kurow ran in, saying that he saw everything that happened.

Some expressions of gratitude and a 'don't worry about it' later, they relayed to each other what their family situations were like. Hikari had apparently made the mistake of spilling a drink on the carpet which earned her a good scolding. Harsh enough that he'd leave her outside instead of bringing her inside.

That was how they became friends. From then on, she invited Kurow through her window when her father wasn't home and they just hung out with each other. They told stories, played games had secret sleepovers… it was most definitely the fun part.

But it would not last. Over time, Hikari developed a deep seated problem that no-one has been able to solve since its first appearance. She was prone to getting bouts of depression that often made her want to try and end herself. Her father just brushed it off, not thinking it was a problem—just a phase. He ignored her when she could not bring herself to do anything; not school, not games… trying to take care of herself didn't have meaning.

One day, Kurow had sneaked into her open window, finding her holding a knife and dragging it along the length of her vein. They were fourteen or so.

Naturally, he took it from her and began to spend as much of his time with her as possible without sacrificing too much study time—until his sleeping time turned into study time and he barely caught a few winks.

A few years later, Hikari managed to find herself caught in the dealings of a cult that worshipped a certain deity; a deity that was said to bring the end of the world if given enough power.

Kurow followed her.

Both of them became part of the assassins' group for one simple reason; they could use a power called 'Persona', awakening to them a year before. Neither of them could really control them since they had been aware of the power; sometimes it felt like their Persona was trying to choke them and crush their chests from the inside.

Again shortly, he liked her. Despite all their problems combined, he could still find it in his heart to like her. However, he never felt the need to say something like that aloud. "It's okay. I just want you to be happy, okay?"

Hikari barely let out "mmhm" before they leaned back into the bed and fell asleep.

It turned out he _did_ forget about his homework and had to finish it all in the night before school. Kanashi ended up taunting him the whole day for that. Thus, his revenge was served.

…

"Um, Mi-Minoru-kun?" Her voice came out small, but loud enough for the addressed to hear. Fuuka almost forgot that he changed his name for when he came to school so he wouldn't draw too much attention to himself. He was there to at least _see_ and _hang out _with his friends; not send them into a panic.

"Mmhm?" Minato tilted his head at Fuuka. He was still getting used to the others referring to him by his fake name, but he was starting to find it a little easier. Rest assured that if someone _did_ say 'Minato', he was going to snap his head towards the direction of the voice. Which may or may not turn out to be a good thing later.

"I wanted to tell you… about these rumours that I heard about at school. I thought you might be interested, or want to know, since it seems really dangerous," Fuuka said, prompting a gesture for her to elaborate. "Apparently there's a new revenge website up, and similar to the website Strega had before."

"Hm?" Nyx tilted her head. What were they talking about?

"Oh uh…" Minato got out a whiteboard and wrote in broken ancient Greek what Fuuka had just said. Seeing as it wasn't easy for Minato to try and speak the language, he decided to translate what he could glean into the language Nyx understood. Of course… he could get things wrong, but it was as good a system as it was going to get. She was learning on her own to associate what people said with what Minato wrote.

"Ah… is that so?" she asked.

"I'm wondering… are they back?" he narrowed his eyes at the thought. Wasn't Takaya supposed to be dead? On the other hand, it is true that no-one explicitly found his dead body either.

"I'm not sure… but members of the site that request a killing are inducted into a cult after their kill is completed. In that respect, it's similar to the Nyxist group from last year," Fuuka replied uncertainly. "They're worshipping a being… Erebus."

Minato nearly stopped a few times as he took the information in and relayed it to Nyx. She too was surprised. 'Nyxists' and 'Erebus' didn't sound very appealing. Especially him. "Erebus!?" Her eyebrows and voice were raised. She muttered curses in Greek, thinking back to him now since the first time she'd taken her first steps in the human world for a long time.

Just because they were consorts didn't mean that they liked each other. Quite the opposite. Nyx in particular didn't like him. One could almost say that she hated him, although _that_ wasn't necessarily true. However, it was not this at the forefront of her mind. She was wondering how it was that people knew about Erebus. Moreover, why were they worshipping him in the first place? Erebus was powerful, but surely not well known. Most certainly, out of all the deities she knew, Erebus wasn't one you worshipped either.

"Um… yes," Fuuka nodded. She should've known that Nyx would recognise Erebus too.

"Why?" Nyx asked. Were people that desperate? Was she wrong? She'd known that there were many people in the world that didn't wish for the Fall; Minato was proof of that, so she'd wanted to see the inner workings of the power that he drew and where it came from. If friendship was a machine, she wanted it taken apart and put back together after examining and coming to an understanding of the parts.

Now, came along this old machine; the desire for death that would make her bring the Fall if touched. She didn't think she'd have to deal with Erebus—the machine that tumbled and clambered into her lab with the sole purpose of raising questions, annoying her… and making her scared. It was possibly what one would call the wrench thrown into her work.

Yes, she was scared. He was about as powerful as she, after all.

There was something that she hadn't relayed to Minato either. If things came to blows…

"I don't know why all of this is happening… I'm just hoping it doesn't make things any worse…" Fuuka said sadly.

"Minato," Nyx called. She took the whiteboard from him and wrote: 'This is my human form. I cannot defend myself from Erebus here. The seal is safer. This is dangerous.'

He looked back to her with wide eyes. "T-Then what!?" Minato almost shouted.

'Go back to the seal. We can stop.'

"But…" Truthfully, he didn't want to leave. He'd just rekindled a little relationship with Kazushi, Kenji, Yuko, Chihiro and all the rest, even if they didn't know who he was. The rest of SEES just got him back. He'd actually started to make some more acquaintances too. And then, he was just going to leave again?

And again, truthfully, he knew that going back to form the seal would be the safer choice.

"I don't want to…"

'You can say goodbye. Is the fate of the world not more important?' There was something Nyx would say honestly too. She didn't want to leave either. She hadn't learnt enough, and Nyx didn't want to go back because of some spanner or wrench; especially not Erebus.

Then again, duty called.

The question as to why she was even thinking about this would come later.

"What is she saying, Minato?" Fuuka asked, a worried look in her eyes.

"She says it would be better to go back if we don't want the Fall," he said slowly. Here was the problem in entirety: By using her powers, Nyx and Minato's presences were away from the seal. Erebus would go after Nyx and try to cause the Fall now that she was out, but she was using her powers to block that possibility. However, if their physical forms met and touched in the human world now, the Fall would happen.

"But… we just started coming back together again," Fuuka stammered. Most others in SEES would probably say the same thing.

'If you're being stubborn, you can try to defend me. But from Erebus and trouble brewing, I see little to no chance.'

"Saying that… it might be better if I do go," Minato mumbled.

When one took Nyx's warning to heart, there was no telling whether their vision was already coloured. But with SEES, it might've very well been the case and there would be no changing their decision; whatever it was going to be.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello guys. Sorry I took long with uploading this, but I've been having writer's block… to stave you guys off (I guess), here is the fourth chapter and I hope you like it. Our favourite crow's come back (if the chapter name didn't already tip you off). <strong>

**Plz box me yo thoughts and I'll see you guys later.**

**Questions**

**To Minato: Do you intend on ever teaching Nyx about other things such as Pokemon?**

**Minato: If she feels like it… but it's enough trouble trying with normal stuff like… doors. I only hope she asks about it later if she does.**


	5. Edging the Cliff

With the amount of pay that he earned each week, it would still take about two months to earn 40000 yen. Naturally, for someone like Yashiro, he was looking for a way to earn that much along with his regular pay. He liked to be more efficient if he could help it.

Thus, he had three options: gambling more at the regular place; going to an _actual_ casino to gamble more money; or get more jobs to handle for a while. To analyse his options… He might've been ambitious but betting more would likely get him kicked out of his usual place and Yashiro didn't exactly want that. Poker kept him quite occupied and not having that option would likely drive him over the hills.

As for the casino idea: one, it was in or near the red light district; two, even if he wanted to go through there it was unlikely that he would be able to get in considering his age; three, even he lost sometimes and house odds weren't the best to deal with. It happened.

He decided to get out onto the streets to find some part-time jobs. Time consuming overall? Yes. It would eat into his recreation time greatly… but that was what not sleeping was for. Take less time over all? Yes. He could cut it down to just a little more than a month at worst.

The hard part was actually finding a job that fit with his current schedule. He already worked at his uncle's shop and Mandragora, so that was the complication right there.

However it turned out that Yui was quite thoughtful. She'd recommended a job to him earlier over the phone at Chagall Café. He would've tried the movie theatre, but it conflicted with his commitment to Mandragora. It was a bummer, really. So that day, Yashiro was making his way to Paulownia Mall.

He lived in the side streets so there weren't usually a lot of people walking around. _That_, he was used to. Was he used to them being so devoid of life that his footsteps started to echo? No. Yashiro was on guard and alert. He was no slouch when it came to fighting and at the very least his agility was something to be marvelled at.

So when he heard the sound of a whizzing razor, it only just caught onto his collar rather than drawing blood. That was definitely a sign that he should haul ass outta there and get to a place with a lot of people so they couldn't aim and try to kill him without causing a scene. The razor almost got the inside of his leg and it appeared to be aimed at a vital artery. Yashiro immediately started running, keeping a steady, but quick pace with his feet.

Yashiro didn't look like it, but he was scared. He would never admit that aloud. Call it shallow, but he wasn't looking forward to getting his life cut off when he still had things he wanted to do and things to see.

If he could just get onto the next main street and run to the mall, then he'd be safe. It became a very big 'if' when a razor made with a leading shot lodged itself into his ankle. Stumble. Then another ankle. Thud.

"S-Shit!" Yashiro muttered under his breath, sucking in his hisses of pain. He struggled to remove the blades from his legs, but didn't get time to as a line of razors whirred through the air towards him. If he could move his legs, he would've, but it didn't appear to be a possibility. He rolled desperately out of the way to avoid the attack, but got one of them stuck in his leg. By then, squirming on the ground, his thoughts were not of trying to get out of the situation alive.

Was he going to die?

He didn't want to. He couldn't. The buildings tall and proud around him screamed a resounding 'no'. And he couldn't let them have the pleasure of winning. Yashiro clenched his teeth and heaved himself onto all fours. Indignation be damned, he was getting out of there even if he had to _crawl_.

Another razor came zipping, aimed at the artery he'd missed from before. "The little guy is so stubborn… it's almost a shame…" a hooded man muttered as the blade left his hand.

"Hey!"

The razor never hit.

Akihiko pushed Yashiro out of the way and the razor was instead planted into the concrete. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Yashiro breathed out a "kinda" before looking around the rooftops. He couldn't tell what direction the razors were coming from, but whoever that person was he promised that he would get them back for this someday. "They've stopped…" he muttered.

He nodded back, but paid more attention to Yashiro's hurt legs. "You're hurt. You need to get those fixed up," Akihiko said. "Don't want them to be infected, do you?"

"Uh… yeah, I guess," Yashiro replied balefully. Welp, his day was just ruined. And guess who he was going to have to apologise to? Yui. He could not deal with her if she was going to be teasing and scolding him to no end. There was something else that would be brought to his attention later and that would ultimately turn things for the worse in an extremely and utterly salty display.

"Up you get…" Akihiko heaved Yashiro onto his shoulder.

"Why were you there, senpai?" Yashiro asked. He was in the boxing club since his first year so naturally he knew and sometimes talked to Akihiko while he was captain.

Akihiko sighed. "Well, I'll explain later. Just concentrate on walking and you'll get your answers," he replied. Deciding there was nothing to be done about it, Yashiro and he walked (or well, he limped) their ways to the Port Island Hospital. It was slow-going and neither of them talked too much until they'd gotten to the room where he was going to be patched up.

"Care to explain some things now?" Yashiro asked dryly as the nurse that had been bandaging his ankles left the room.

Akihiko and Mitsuru looked between each other uncertainly. They'd been able to find Yashiro using Fuuka's analytical powers. That being said, she could only detect certain threats; in this case, she detected someone using a Persona and that led them to the scene.

It was all fine and dandy until you got to the part about the Persona. There was no way they could write something off like this as just a merry coincidence.

"We would," Mitsuru said after a few moments. "However, what we say does not go out of his room unless it is extremely urgent."

"Did I get involved in a cult of some sort?" Yashiro deadpanned.

Akihiko stopped himself from flinching. He was probably joking but he didn't know how close it was. "No. But do you agree?" she asked.

Well, it wasn't like things could get worse. He thought. "Well, fine. What happened?"

"You were presumably attacked by a member from a cult that has been gaining rising popularity in the Port Island area," Mitsuru said. Yashiro blinked. That quip wasn't supposed to be close. "We are both part of a group that aims to protect the city from supernatural threats." Although thinking about it, why was he agreeing? That was not the recommended course of action.

"Come again?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Just hear us out and ask questions later," Akihiko cut in.

Mitsuru nodded as Yashiro decided to sit back in his bed and scrutinise their… _almost_ lunacy. He could think of some things that were on par with that kind of crazy. So far. "This cult runs its own revenge site and at least from what we have gathered, there is a group of assassins that are sent to handle the requests sent by members." Before Yashiro could say something like: 'But I can't think of anyone that would want to kill me', Mitsuru explained. "We don't know if this is our final explanation yet.

"The next part would be explaining how we found you," Akihiko said, folding his arms.

"Indeed. Whether you believe us or not… we were able to find your assailant through a power we call Persona," Mitsuru said, earning no flinch from Yashiro whatsoever. "One of our members was able to search for your assailant. This assailant had a Persona."

Yashiro breathed out. "Well, that wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be."

"How's that?" Akihiko asked.

"A few years back I was fighting against someone. I became consumed with my own rage and wind… it started appearing around my fist. I ended up knocking him out," he replied behind a stone mask. There was more to it. Mitsuru was sceptical of the little explanation as well. It was vague… At the same time, it didn't appear as if he'd have a reason to lie about it.

"A burst of power with an equal outburst of emotion… you may be right," Mitsuru commented.

"Don't get me wrong." Yashiro gave the both of them a narrow gaze. "I don't plan on joining your group if it will get in my way."

"We didn't exactly think you would. We're just telling you because it would probably be best," Akihiko said.

"So you wouldn't mind if I just… oh, I don't know. Metaphorically strolled out the door right now?" He _almost_ chuckled.

"Well, as long as you do not divulge this information to anyone, then no," Mitsuru replied. "We are taking a bit of a risk by telling you this."

He mentally bit back his 'and who am I going to tell?' quip and just said, "I'm going to say no then."

"Guess we'll respect your decision then," Akihiko sighed. After some further words, the two seniors left the room.

Yashiro had realised that it would be so many levels of annoying not to be able to get back into boxing for a while, but he also wasn't up for dealing with a bunch of psycho assassins from an equally psycho cult when he had things like grades, college exams and that damned keyboard to worry about already.

Unless there was some really good reason that he should join in on this potentially perilous and life-threatening caper for the destruction of this cult which he probably couldn't fight (even _if_ he'd sworn revenge on one of them in the heat of the moment), he definitely would say 'no' every time they asked.

With a sigh, he removed his phone from his pocket and muttered, "I'm gonna enjoy this…" Typing in his text, he mused that it was a wonder Yui hadn't contacted him or anything. Maybe she was just surprisingly patient or something, but he couldn't make a judgement at this point. It wasn't like he knew her well.

'Sorry. I can't go because I was held up'

A small sound came from his phone, and the text read: 'Oh! Don't worry about it! I figured you were just going to walk in and ask since people do that all the time. XD So no-one's angry. :3' Yui replied almost straight away. Yashiro did think it was a little strange, but then again it could've just been him being paranoid. He was good at that.

'Okay, I'll try again some other day,' he replied. Well at least it was a relief. You know what happens when you get scheduled a job interview and you come late or don't show up? Your chances of getting a job there get lowered considerably and you probably shouldn't try anyways. Yashiro was at least relieved to know that.

'Wut happened doe?' Of course she'd ask, wouldn't she?

He took a few moments to gather his thoughts and find the best way to say it without giving that whole Persona and cult shenanigan away. 'Someone tried to mug me and almost killed me.'

'O-O Someone tried to kill you!? Are you alright!?' Yashiro sighed as he gazed upon the emote. Really? Well someone was excited…

'Yeah. But in hospital now so I'm okay' he replied. Kinda hoping that she'd be satisfied by that.

'Are you sure?'

What, really? 'Do I sound like I'm joking?' he typed in, deadpanning at the screen the whole time.

'Can't people express concern? Pickhead, you better be okay or I'll put you in a coma.' How the hell was that even productive!? This girl was weird.

'Don't call me pickhead'

Leaving that last message just sent Yui roflcoptering in the texts to no end, but soon enough the conversation ended. All the while, Yashiro was asking himself how it was that he could deal with a girl so annoyingly upbeat until he decided to sleep it off. He had a sleep debt to repay.

…

As it turned out, Nyx was a pretty fast learner, so long as you kept most of the kanji out of it. Those made things a million times harder. Minato also did his best to learn her language although progress was slow-going. The good thing was that Japanese schools have English as part of their compulsory curriculum so they wouldn't completely fail in the Western world. The process went a little something like slowly going through the English, seeing how that transformed into Greek and then taking in the meaning from Greek to Japanese.

"Aigis-chan? What's wrong?" Fuuka asked worriedly. On the opposite side of the living room of the Kirijo Mansion was where most of SEES sans Akihiko and Mitsuru were.

"I do not feel Minato is safe around Nyx," she replied, still looking at her suspiciously. In fact, it was similar to the way she used to look at Ryoji. "Do you trust her, Fuuka-chan?"

"Well…" Fuuka bit her lip as she thought of a response. "Not completely, but she isn't aggressive towards him so…" she answered unsurely. "Are you talking about Nyx-san around Minato-kun, or as a… um, a threat caused by something else?"

"Both," Aigis replied simply.

"I guess ya just can't blame her Fuuka-chan! I mean it's not like we can let things happen to Minato again, especially since the guy came back for us," Junpei piped in. "I feel the same way about it too," he nodded sagely.

"That's awfully mature of you Junpei," Yukari commented, earning an indignant 'hey' from him. "But you're right. We're the ones that want him to stay. Makes me think that we haven't learned at all…" she laughed with a sad smile.

"It isn't entirely true. We know the consequences of our actions now… If things become too much for us to handle, we'll go with the other option as a last resort, right?" Ken said. His words were quite true. They'd decided that they'd get rid of the new threat if they could so they could let Minato stay with them for a little longer.

This was why they'd started looking into the cult in combination with the Kirijo resources and Fuuka's technological expertise. It was different now since things weren't just restricted to the Dark Hour like before. They could rely on other people to get what they needed.

"Arf arf!" Koromaru yipped happily. Even he was determined to get things right.

"Yeah! That's right!" Junpei exclaimed, as if coming to an understanding with Koromaru's sentiments. "So… what've you found so far, Fuuka-chan?" Junpei asked.

"So far, I've gotten an invitation to the site using a fake e-mail address. We've also encrypted our IP address so they won't know it's us if they check," she explained. "There are two moderators called 'Heather' and 'Ryan', and I think they're responsible for processing the revenge requests and keeping the website address hidden from people like the police.

"How did you find it in the first place then?" Yukari blinked. Or maybe she was just that pro and no-one knew it.

"Actually, rumours about the website are sent by word of mouth and on some chat sites and forums. They're deleted by the moderators when they see it, but at least a few people would see and carry on the message," Fuuka replied. "I was just lucky that I found it first… really, the Kirijo Group helped to narrow it down too so we would've found something anyways."

"Well, that's good. What did you do next?" Ken asked.

"So far, we've only been looking at it. It seems as if a fair number of people are responsible for running the site and possibly meeting those requests," she replied. "On the site it's always said the 'cult of the fallen' is running it, but their goal isn't clear yet."

"Either way, it sounds pretty messed up," Junpei said, gritting his teeth. "But it's cool that it's going faster than before."

"Groof." Koromaru growled, raising his hackles.

"I know we can't rest easy yet, Koromaru, but any progress is good progress," Ken chuckled. At that, Koromaru relaxed and let out a bark in affirmation. Yes, he could basically understand Koromaru now with at least enough understanding to reply. Maybe he hung out with him too much…

"It is true. Suppressing this threat must be taken in steps in order for us to succeed. Minato-kun's safety…" Aigis paused to recalculate her words. "As well as Nyx's are of utmost priority."

"Shit!" Minato exclaimed, but covered his mouth when he remembered that he wasn't supposed to swear. "U-Um…" he stammered as everyone turned to look at him. "I mean um… bollocks."

"What?" Nyx blinked.

"I was right. She _is_ endangering Minato-kun. She must be eliminated," Aigis intoned as she stood and aimed her guns at Nyx.

"Wait, how is she endangering Minato _now_!?" Yukari exclaimed.

"She is damaging his sanity."

"N-No! I just… translated something wrong," Minato said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Really badly…"

"What… do you mean?" Fuuka asked unsurely.

"Aigis said my _safety_ and Nyx's are of utmost priority," Minato said slowly. "I wrote it in Greek and uh…"

"Minato's chastity and mine are of utmost priority," Nyx said in Japanese, rather flatly.

Sweatdrop.

"Haha! That's amazing!" Junpei said, wiping a tear from his eye. Ken and Koromaru just looked on unsurely while Fuuka and Yukari just smiled awkwardly.

"May I perforate them with an obscene amount of bullets?" Aigis asked in a fake robotic voice. Of course they knew she was joking but…

"No Aigis don't!" Minato exclaimed. "We're fine! She understands now!"

"I was joking Minato," she replied. Her face… was not a smiling one.

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><p><strong>AN: What? An update in about a week? That never happens! Sorry, I'm just digging through my reserve chapters and decided I'd update since I'd been putting it off. Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter and look forward to the conflicts soon coming up.<strong>

**Plz box me yo thoughts and I'll see ya guys later.**


	6. Unfinished End

The room hadn't exactly been swimming with activity thus far. Each member was never really inclined to speak with the others, so it was up to her to start. "Can someone please explain to me why Ryan couldn't secure his target?" Alexia sighed as she strode to the table in the middle of the metal meeting room.

She'd been working with the Fallen for a little over two months. All of them had been recruited at the same time by Takaya Sakaki and she already didn't like most of the line-up for varying reasons.

Landon was pretty sane for the most part, but he never really talked with anyone besides Alice. She thought Alice was quiet and pretty depressing. She was hard to talk to… but they were both kinda nice (even if the former was rather foul-mouthed) so Alexia could tolerate them. Landon was the messenger while Alice was an assassin.

Valencia was unpredictable; bubbly one moment and deflated the next. Her mood swings were so out there, someone could just swear she had bipolar disorder. Alexia had a theory that she did. Other than that, (assuming you caught her in a good mood) she was responsible to giving help to assassins by setting up times and locations for some of their targets. Valencia always seemed stressed by her workload and one never knew how her timed bomb of a mind was ticking. It was forty people per week after all. She was alright, but Alexia never talked to her much unless the need was pressing.

Heather was… violent. Alexia had learned to stay away from her, since she wasn't looking forward to getting a bite full of electricity from her alligator clips. She'd seen Heather use them on Ryan on occasion. She too was an assassin and every single victim of hers got electricity to the face.

The most chill of them all was Liam. She didn't mind talking to him at all. He was the one that avoided talking to just about everyone if he could help it. Always smoking and chain smoking with everyone else in the room, it was the one thing Alexia didn't like about him. He was an assassin.

Then we had Ryan. Ryan was lazy. Smart, but lazy. And annoying. He took pleasure in annoying people. Ryan was responsible for managing the site for the most part and occasionally took leftover targets in his free time.

"It wasn't my fault!" Valencia chirruped, prompting Alexia to turn towards her with a set of narrowed eyes. "I swear. Ryan probably just missed or something."

"I can vouch for that actually," Landon cut in. "Apparently some bitch decided he wanted to interfere… Ryan had to pull out," he explained.

"I can… you know… try again, if you'd like," Ryan smiled obnoxiously. He just knew Alexia would be annoyed if a failure (especially him) even suggested trying again. She was a logical kind of person, if increasingly irritable. She was perfect for him.

"Ryan… How about no?" Alexia growled. A deadpan was fixed on the obnoxious smile visible from under his coat and it did nothing but grow. "Alice, you go after him tonight."

Alice nodded ever so slightly, prompting Landon to add, "The target likely won't be able to move much and he'll be at Tatsumi Port Island hospital for tonight. Should be easy as balls."

"Okay," she said quietly.

"I'd like to ask something, since this just reminded me," Liam spoke for the first time that meeting. "What is our new goal? Are our targets changing, and if so, for what reason?" he asked.

"Good question!" Landon exclaimed, hopping off the desk. "You see, Takaya's changing what demographic we're covering so the field of sorry bitches to pick from is wider. I don't know exactly why yet, since Takaya's opted to reveal that sometime later instead."

"The advertising is changing a lot. It's now more like… 'If you don't join, we're gonna kill you'. That's the new message," Alexia expounded further, chewing on a capped pen.

"That sounds really exciting." If it was anyone else, it might've sounded kinda normal. But when it was Heather saying that paired with a dose of dark chuckles, she just sounded creepy.

As the others discussed their next courses of action, Landon eventually left the room with Alexia's eyes on his back. "Where are you going, Landon?" she asked after following him through the door out.

He replied, "Going back to the dorm. I have a life to catch up on."

"I don't understand why you're helping us, but acting as if school's going to matter in the end," she said, leaning against the wall. "Can you explain to me why?"

"By all means, you shouldn't be asking shit like that."

Blue eyes met violet. "Indulge me."

Landon frowned as he felt the harrowing knocks of weakness trying to cave in his chest. "I'm just trying to keep a friend safe."

"You don't honestly think you can save her, can you?" Alexis also thought Landon was too soft to be on their team. It was why he was delegated the task of being the messenger.

"I'm going to do what it takes, and you're not gonna fucking stop me," he growled.

"Keep dreaming," she sighed as Landon started his way once more. "You're not saving anyone. You're going to have to try really hard if you want to prove me wrong and make me eat my words."

Hiding his frown, Landon just raised his hand and waved to her. Alexia shook her head and returned to the meeting room with a sigh. "Alice, why don't you follow him?" she called.

Quietly, Alice slipped from the premises after Landon. If Alexia wasn't watching her, she never would've noticed. In any case, she was supposed to kill Yashiro this evening. She decided it was a good idea to get a head start to home.

When Kurow exited the building, she flitted just behind him. "What are you doing, Hikari?" he asked.

"I'm going home," she whispered.

Stopping momentarily, he sighed and soon continued his way. "Hikari… uh well, I'm going the same way as you, but I need to catch up on some homework," Kurow mumbled.

If it was possible for Hikari to visibly deflate some more, she would've. "Are you coming with me?" she asked, taking one of his gloved hands and twining her fingers in it.

Kurow squeezed her hand to give her reassurance and nodded. "Well yeah. I… I have to report back on what happens." Of course, it was mostly to keep an eye on her and make sure nothing bad happened.

"Okay." Silence passed between the two of them, since Kurow couldn't think of anything to say in response. "It should be easy though."

"I know," Kurow said after a few moments.

"Why?"

He sighed. "Because I'm just worried, alright? You aren't going to get hurt under my watch."

"But-" Hikari raised her voice for a moment but sighed as she remembered how stubborn her friend was. "Alright… but you can't get hurt either, Kurow."

"Hikari…" He furrowed his brow as she stopped walking. "I'm not going to get hurt. Whatever bitch comes in to hurt you is getting his shit wrecked instead," Kurow said. He pulled on his best grin, hoping to instill some confidence in her.

Opting not to say anything more on the subject, she nodded half-heartedly. "You said you were going to do some homework…?" Hikari asked.

"Well… yeah. When are you going?"

"Later. I'm going to pick some stuff up from home first," she replied. "Meet me at the Port Island Station at two."

"Well, alright then," Kurow nodded. The two separated after that, going in opposite directions. "See ya," he added.

In between that afternoon and the next morning, Kurow spent his time doing as he said he would: trying to get through his homework. Although it was two in the morning after all that studying, he still felt wide awake, though the edges of his eyes stung a little.

Before they could go to the hospital, he had to make some preparations before they could attempt to assassinate Yashiro. It was half past two.

Yashiro had been staying in the hospital. He normally would've been home a while ago, but apparently Akihiko and Mitsuru had wanted to run some tests on him while he was there along with getting treatment for his leg injuries. By the time they had finished, it was already pretty late and it wouldn't be easy for him to go back home.

It actually bothered him quite a bit, since his feet and legs were vital to his boxing technique. Getting that locked down was making him frustrated; frustrated enough that he couldn't really sleep on it, yet still feeling the billowing haze of fatigue at the same time.

Kurow hid in the air vent above the ward while Hikari stood with her back against the wall near the doors. Because of the purposes of the tests, Yashiro was still in a private room. It was perfect, since they didn't have to deal with extra patients that could be witness to the assassination.

"The security's been knocked out and the cameras are off, but you have to be careful. He's still awake," he whispered into his radio.

"Alright," Hikari muttered. "This might be a little harder, then…"

Still afraid of making noise, she cracked open the sliding doors so that only a sliver of light shone through. From that movement, a tiny sound pricked his ears. His first was reaction was to search the room, but nothing had appeared to move. Not noticeably, anyways.

Hikari removed a pipe from her cloak and loaded it with a needle laced with tranquilizer. She only had one shot. The moment she missed, Yashiro would know someone was there and they'd have to run. It was likely that he was still on guard because of the attack earlier that day, as well. Things would not end well if they failed then and it only pressured her further.

She then took a silent deep breath, took aim and blew. The sound of the whizzing needle could be heard, but no-one could be fast enough to react to it; especially someone still sleep deprived like Yashiro. It stuck fast into his neck. He felt the sting and tried to turn his head towards the door, but before he could try, Yashiro was out cold.

A sigh of relief escaped her lips. That went surprisingly well… Hikari slid into the room as best as she could, seeing as there didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary and removed a knife from her mantle.

"Hi-Alice! Watch out!" Kurow hissed. He saw a shadow move through the windows of the doors out of the corner of his eye. It wasn't recognisable and was abnormally quick. Hikari reacted to his words by dodging the pocketknife that cut through the air and stuck into the wall opposite. "Get out of there! I set up some rope earlier, so get down that," he commanded.

"Understood." She backed away as the hooded figure opened the doors and pointed another knife at her. Hikari dashed towards the window and immediately stepped and leaped out to grab onto the rope Kurow had prepared.

Kurow sighed and muttered a few curses before deciding to exit the premises as well. Evidently, someone just didn't want them to kill Yashiro for whatever reason. If there were people that determined to keep that jerk safe, they couldn't attempt to get their target until the 'guardian angel' was taken down. While it could be soon, it would not be that night. He retracted into the gloom of the tunnel, crawled and ran out, eventually meeting Hikari outside safely.

"I'll handle Alexia, Hikari. She'll be pissed off..." Kurow muttered.

"Don't worry about it," Hikari replied lowly. "Just get some sleep."

Hmph. That was usually something he would say. "You better do the same. Otherwise I'm gonna be fucking around with you for not doing it tomorrow."

She chuckled at his words. Hikari knew that he used a very specific brand of concern that didn't necessarily work for everyone. That was how Kurow worked. "Alright. Good night."

"Later," he replied. With that, the two of them went their separate ways. God knew both of them needed some rest.

She watched silently from the window as they ran off. It was a little tiring... but at least he wouldn't be targeted again that night. With tiny steps towards the knocked out Yashiro, she decided to take out the needle from his neck, seeing as it would probably be a huge pain for him whenever he chose to woke up.

After waiting a few minutes for him to come around, she finally heard a groan from the bed. Yashiro shook his head and rubbed his eyes as he regained consciousness, almost jumping out as he saw someone near him. "W-What the hell just happened…?" he mumbled, still adjusting his blurry vision to get a clear view of his surroundings and the person next to him.

"You looked like you were having a good nap."

"Yui? What the hell are you doing here?" Yashiro asked. His eyes widened further as her face was illuminated by the moon pouring through the window.

"Welp, I saw someone in your room, but they hauled ass when they saw me," she explained.

"They did...?" he asked quietly, thinking of who it could be. Maybe it was someone else trying to kill him and he managed to get out by the skin of his teeth. "You didn't necessarily answer me though..." Yashiro pointed out, narrowing his eyes.

"You're right... and I'm not planning on telling," Yui replied simply, folding her arms.

He narrowed his gaze, but made no move. "Tch. I'll find out sooner or later..." Yashiro muttered to himself.

"I'm sure, I'm sure... Anyways, you're safe and kinda just chilling, healing up here so... I'ma go now," she said, standing up and giving her back a good stretch.

"Really? Well, alrighty then. Don't let the door hit you on the way out." He sank into his bed, eventually rolling over as Yui began to head out. How did she get in at such late hours though?

"You say that as if I'd let that happen," she sighed. "Nighty night Yashiro-san."

He gave a suspicious glance, a sigh, but not a farewell. Yashiro rolled over to the opposite side and decided to try and get some sleep. There was definitely something going on with that girl and he'd find out what it was, sooner or later.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello guys. It's been forever ago. Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed the chapter. Later.<strong>


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